LION FEVER

Lion Fever creates music that is exactly what the indie rock community needs: brash rock heavily rooted in blues, 60's psychedelia, blended together with the edginess of some of the best 70's and 80's punk rock standards. While the tracks are predominently dark and moody in tone, it's quite evident that each member is putting forth 100 percent, with a lot of sweat and sheer emotion shining through every second of the album's 12 tracks.

Their latest Dim Mak full length, "Haunted Water", is dark and heavy, and sees each memberexploring verstile effects of instrumentation from throbbing basslines to crunchy intricate guitar riffs. One of the most striking things about the album, however, is the sheer intensity that is conveyed by vocalist Jennifer Pearl. Her expressive vocals soar and she can often be heard pushing the limits of her range. She's compelling in her diversity and is reminiscent of Patti Smith at her most impassioned moments.

Haunted Water is a ferocious best and impressive debut that will leave Lion Fever running throughout the hearts and minds of indie rockers eager for an alternative to the mainstream.

Dim Mak Releases:
DM058: "Lustre" 12"/CDEP
DM083: "Haunted Water" LP/CD

Listen
Crowd Pleaser from "Haunted Water"
I'd Love To Leave from "Haunted Water"

Press

Atomica 1.8
The LA quartet Lion Fever (with members of Lost Kids, Starlight Desperation and Cinema Eye), sit firmly within the bounds of mopey garage rock, having earned themselves a pass to lament on a sonic level. HAUNTED WATER is there impressive debut, a slow and heavy grind through serious solemnity. Singer Jennifer Pearl's vocals sound like PattI Smith, PJ Harvey and Nico all had a slumber party and decided upon one voice. LOST HEAT and A LITTLE SILVER crunch and pulsate with a sound that has been generously culled from 80s shoegazer material, while VICTORY and CROWD PLEASER are punchy rock anthems. It's like the Church meets Jesus and Mary Chain meets Danzig meets Lion Fever's own brand of ferociousness, a raving four-headed monster that alternatly weeps and breathes fire. Yikes!

"If PJ Harvey and Chrissie Hynde had a baby girl she would have a voice sounding a lot like Pearl's"

Updated 10/25/05
Vice
Lustre scores a nine
Attention, all bands: get over yourself and get back to writing songs we can have sex to. If you did that, we'd have more music of this caliber and less self-abused rock posers. Lion Fever is perfect for slow, lazy screwing all day in a hotel that you can't afford, and Jennifer Pearl's voice is on fire like a young PJ Harvey on an axe-murdering spree.

Updated 10/25/05
Urb Sept. 05
Review: Haunted Waters
Retro-rockers pick the best bits for young ears
Combining muddy blues riffs with '60s psychedelic, the tough and sleazy riff revival style of Lion Fever makes the true spirit of rock live in Haunted Water. Downbeat tunes like "House of Need" keep a dark mood with a march of low percussions and piano keys mixed with a faint but eerie violin. Songs gradually become more upbeat with blues-rock improvising solos by guitarist and vox Jennifer Pearl, whose vocals blend Janis Joplin's charisma and Patti Smith's presence in songs such as the short a cappella "Adeline."
The roots of Lion Fever can be traced to artists from the '60's, revering the legends such as Hendrix and Grateful Dead; the only mistake is keeping the guitar solos short. Hot.

Updated 08/10/05

That's right one of LA's Top Ten Bands, Lion Fever, have returned from their ultra successful US Tour tour with Bellmer Dolls to once again rock the City of Angels. Every Friday in August Lion Fever will be brining their booze fueled brand of dirty rock and roll to the El Cid. All shows are $5 and start around 9:30pm. Get more info here.
Hey, if the LA Weekly tell you to go, you better be there.

Updated 08/10/05
Haunted Water Review
Treblezine.com

Updated 08/10/05
El Cid show

Updated 08/10/05
Haunted Water Review
Drownedinsound.com

Updated 08/10/05
simplemission.com

Updated 08/10/05
Show Update


Updated 3/02/05
Modern Fix issue 43
Lion Fever
Lustre
Words: Thom Cooper
The five songs on this album are not enough to quench the rock thirst that Lion Fever has started. These five songs have all the rawness and lo-fi depth that anyone who calls themselves a rock fan could ever want. Singer Jennifer Pearl (formerly of The Lost Kids) wails and cries in a way that will pull your soul from your heart no matter how deep it is. These five songs have been compared to The Gun Club, PJ Harvey and early Misfits. Comparisons considered, Lion Fever is a breed of its own. The songs blast with blues, dark punk and an early rock n' roll vibe. When I come accross records like this, I know that rock n' roll's heart is still beating strong. All the musicians in Lion's Fever have had their fair share with bands like The Lost Kids, Belle Isle, Jim Sclavunous & The Vanity Set, Pleasure Forever and it shows in their abilities. Five stars and two thumbs up. This is a rock record in every way rock n' roll means rock n' roll

Updated 2/07/05
AMP April/May 2004
Lion Fever
Lustre
Words: MC
"Obsessive fans of the GSL label's back catalog should immediately recognize a few members of Lion Fever, a band made up of VSS and STARLIIT DESPIRATION/LOST KIDS folks. Fronted by a charismatic sounding Jennifer Pearl, Lion Fever's tunes come off as outtakes from SD's "Go Kill Mice" album, which is a compliment. Bonus points for a GUN CLUB cover, but I suspect fans of their previous combos have already heard enough to make up their minds."

Updated 11/22/04
Modernfix.com
words: Thomas Cooper
"Iggy adn the Stooges, New York Dolls, Motorhead, The Ramones... that's rock goddamnit. And here we have Lion Fever, a rock 'n' roll band formed two years back in America's hippy wetlands, also known as Portland, Oregon. Guitar/vocalist Jennifer Pearl (Lost Kids), drummer turned bassist David Clifford (Pleasure Forever), and drummer Kevin Garrison (Get Hustle/Angel Hair) are what turns Lion Fever's latest "Lustre" into raw, powerful fucking rock, loaded with emotion and passion that is just non-existent in many records nowadays. "Lustre" wails and pulsew with soulful elements of the blues, the energy of early punk and so importantly the vocals of ex-Lost Kids guitarist Jennifer Pearl. These are vocals, guitar riffs, drumming and bass playing that are coming from people who have been around the block. People who have played dirty empty clubs in random cities in states that we forgot about. "Lustre" has been released on Dim Mak records, a label that is becoming notorious for busting out some of the newest and coolest rock (The Gossip), dance rock (DDM), and various electronic acts to date... certainly a label whose discography I suggest you examine. Lion Fever is playing a brand of rock that is so rare and real, it gives us hope that there are people that really know what rock should sound like. Lion Fever style."

Updated 10/13/04
Modernfix.com
Lustre
(Dim Mak)
words: Thom Cooper
"The five songs that are on this record are not enough to quench the rock thrust that Lion Fever has started. These five songs have all the rawness and lo-fi depth that anyone who calls themselves a rock fan could ever want. Singer Jennifer Pearl (formally of The Lost Kids) wails and crys in ways that will pull the soul from your heart no matter how deep it is. These five tunes have been compared to the Gun Club, PJ Harvey and early Misfits. Comparisons considered, Lion Fever is a breed of it's own. The songs blast with blues, dark punk and an early rock'n'roll vibe. When I come across records like this, I know that rock'n'roll's heart is still beating strong. All the musicians in Lion Fever have had their share of experience with bands like The Lost Kids, Belle Isle, Jim Sclavunous and the Vanity Set, Pleasure Forever and it shows in their abilities. Five stars and two thumbs up. This is a rock record in every way that rock'n'roll means rock'n'roll.

Updated 4/23/04
IMPACT Press
By DP
(click link to view full article)
"This 5-song EP is a powerfully rockin', female-fronted infusion of blues, Joan Jett rock, honky tonk, and punk, with heavy emphasis on the rock."

Updated 4/23/04
RES Alert
By Jesse Ashlock
(click link to view full article)
"Imagine the Gun Club fronted by PJ Harvey or Johnette Napolitano and you get somewhere near the riotous and sensual desperation of Lion Fever's promising debut EP Lustre."

Updated 4/23/04
Willamette Week; Music Guide2004
By Zach Dundas
(click link to view full article)
"...a reeling, narcotic punk-blues ripe with lust, envy, hate and several other deadly sins. Simultaneously one of Portland's most sophisticated and most stripped-down bands..."

Updated 4/23/04
New Noise
Lion Fever By Nadeem Ali
(click link to view full article)
"Sometimes a band comes along that get straight to the point. There is no monkeying around – they come fully evolved. They know what they want and they know how to get it..."

Updated 4/15/04
Ear Lash
Lion Fever: Lustre
By Tobias Carroll
Let's say you play in a band -- specifically, a rock and roll outfit with healthy punk roots, and a stylistic penchant for the blues and garage rock. Chances are, you're going to have some Gun Club in your record collection. Twenty-plus years in, Fire of Love is still a gripping, fearsome kind of record; it truly hasn't aged. Lion Fever -- whose members have done time in groups like Lost Kids and Pleasure Forever -- are, I'm wagering, Gun Club fans. I make this wager because their band has chosen to cover Gun Club's "For the Love of Ivy" on their debut EP, Lustre.
The five songs here are solidly played. Jennifer Pearl's vocals are alternately defiant and calculatedly vulnerable; when she sings a line like "I'm no slave" (from the album's opener, "Slave"), it hardly comes as news to the listener. Kip Beelman's recording captures the group's rhythms well on "Everyone I Know is Getting Famous," though the overall feeling seems restrained in places. (I'm left suspecting that the group's live show is something worth taking in.)
Four of the five songs here traffic in a relatively standard, stripped-down garage rock stomp. The accompanying press materials describe "The Zoo" as a ballad, and while the tempo is at its slowest here, the looming glare of the music doesn't lose any of its intensity. Lustre is a debut release, which does give the group a certain amount of leeway.

Updated 3/26/04
Neumu
by Jenny Tatone
Lion Fever's founders are two individuals better known for their roles in other bands: Jennifer Pearle, former Lost Kids guitarist and current Lion Fever lead singer, and David Clifford, Pleasure Forever drummer/Lion Fever bassist, who's also played with The VSS and the Vanity Set. But listening to the Portland, Ore. trio's ferocious debut EP, one can't conceive of their having an ounce of energy left for anything but Lion Fever. Spewing forth such energetic, raw-and-ragged garage-punk rock really has to take a lot out of you, but if you come out with a record like Lustre it's, no doubt, energy well spent.
Led by Pearle's husky Corin Tucker-meets-PJ Harvey wails, Lion Fever-rounded out by drummer Kevin Garrison-have a deep bluesy smash-bang-smash swagger built into their psychedelic-minded punk-rock sound. Featuring gritty, slashing riffs, tumbling tempos and snapping rhythms, the band bangs out big sounds full of down-and-dirty sneers, swaggers, struts and lusts.
Recorded by Kip Beelman, known for his work with Unwound, The Gossip and Kinski, Lustre brings blues, garage, proto-punk and even hints of jazz and country into the same dark, red-lit and smoky room for an intense, somewhat abrasive, totally embracing, edgy rock 'n' roll sound.
The band covers the Gun Club (an obvious influence) classic "For the Love of Ivy," banging out encouraging rockabilly bass riffs, simple, catchy punk beats and emotive quiet-to-loud transitions, The ballad-like "The Zoo" features deep, jazzy croons, sluggish, passionate guitar and beats that beg to hang on. Opener "Slave" urges with spastic, spiraling riffs, slapping beats and rhythms that toy with you-and who can help but laugh at the rumbling closer's title, "Watch Out for Spiders"?
If you dug Pearle and Clifford's previous bands, you know this is for you. And if you didn't, check out Lustre anyway, and you'll be thrilled they had the energy to bring us Lion Fever.

MP3s from the upcoming 12"/CD EP coming out in JANUARY 2004 available now on the MP3 Page.

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